Arizona Fall League game ball

I was looking to bring home a fall league souvenir besides the assorted things I may get signed and I was able to get this game ball - I was hanging down the right field line during a day game in Mesa and after a foul ball was hit [probably down the line, where it ricochets back onto the field], one of the outfielders has to grab it to toss it out of play.

I call for the player [Dwight Smith Jr. of the Mesa Solar Sox] for the ball and he throws it towards my direction - there was no one around me and I ended up with the ball; it's not quite a big deal because I'd like to think I'm all grown up, but I didn't have to worry about impulsively buying a program, a media guide or maybe a t-shirt.

Featured autograph - Dalton Pompey

A relative unknown coming into the 2014 season, the native Canadian is going to be the next big thing in the outfield [at least for the Toronto Blue Jays] - Melky Cabrera doesn't look to be re-signed, Colby Rasmus' status is up in the air and Anthony Gose [who might have been in Pompey's shoes just a few years ago] was shipped off to Detroit.

Pompey has made a steady, unspectacular climb through the minors, but while he might not be a finished product, he is going to be 22 next year - he has speed to burn and if his other hitting attributes come together, he might be a top of the lineup threat for years to come.

Featured autograph - Jesse Winker

Winker led the Arizona Fall League in hitting and was ranked No. 6 among the Top 25 AFL prospects according to Jim Callis at MLB.com - Winker's emergence may make Jay Bruce trade bait if the Cincinnati Reds are offered the right players in return.

Featured autograph - Greg Bird and Tyler Austin

Greg Bird was named the 2014 Arizona Fall League Most Valuable Player - I got him to sign a few times and his limits would generally vary from signing one to three cards at a time.

Tyler Austin is a great autograph signer - though he was a repeat from last year's fall league, he continued to be accommodating when he signed, patiently signing cards for those who approached him without any hesitation [within reason of course, but if you had the cards, Austin would sign pretty much all of them].

Featured autograph - Aaron Judge

This was a card given to me by my buddy when I didn't have anything for Judge to get signed after a game in Scottsdale during the Arizona Fall League - my quick impression of Judge is he's a gentle giant, maybe just a humble sort who is fairly down to earth [for a prospect].

However, there is no mistaking the fact that Judge is one large human being and sort of similar in stature the Miami Marlins' $325 million man Giancarlo Stanton - as is, looking the part is one thing, but Judge isn't quite projected to be the slugger Stanton has been.

If things fall into place, Judge maybe more of a very good MLB player [or even trade bait if it comes to that point for him as a New York Yankees' prospect] - rather than a player who can be a franchise player the Yankees can build around for years to come.

Featured autograph - Matt Reynolds

In the Arizona Fall League this past fall, I got the sense a lot more players were 'one per' and/or basically didn't want to stop and sign all the time - Reynolds was one of those players who picked his spots and I only got him to sign [on a couple of cards in two separate times] in my last AFL trip.

I like how his autograph 'pops' on the Team USA memorabilia card - the soon to be 24-year old New York Mets minor leaguer had a breakout season this past year and maybe ready to contribute at the MLB level in 2015.

Featured autograph - Brad Ausmus

Ausmus was an 'extra guy' I got during a game at Camelback Ranch in my last Arizona Fall League trip - I actually picked up the 2006 Topps Turkey Red from the card shop near the ballpark [during my first trip to the AFL], but didn't get the card signed until my second AFL trip.

Featured autographs Raisel Iglesias and Nick Howard

Neither guy had any actual cards out yet, so I got them on the same dual blank card from the The Autograph Card - both Cincinnati Reds pitching prospects, Iglesias was a Cuban free agent signed to a MLB contract this past summer and Howard was the 19th overall pick in the 2014 First Player Draft.

Featured autograph - C.J. Edwards

I was able to make a couple of trips to the Arizona Fall League this year and after getting my cards signed by the Chicago Cubs pitching prospect my first trip - I ended up printed up two images for him in my last go-around to the AFL.

I think he was down to 'one per,' but was able to get my prints signed on successive nights [not without a glare from Edwards the second time] - I mumbled that the second was the last print I had for him in case he did remember getting me the night before.

2014 Topps Update four pack break

I was really looking for loose packs of 2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks since the product just came out - but I didn't immediately see them, yet I was itching to bust some packs.

I really should have just saved the $8 I spent on the packs, but I needed to justify the 20 minutes I spent at the card shop - in addition to trying to find something random in the quarter bins.

Pack one

#US-131 Chris Denorfia

#US-280 Cole Gillespie

#US-135 Jake Odorizzi

#US-242 Javier Lopez

#PPA-CGM Carlos Gomez - Power Players insert

#FN-GP 2 Gregory Polanco - The Future is Now insert

#US-324 Alexi Amarista

#US-258 Matt Carpenter

#US-30 Elian Herrera

#US-224 Jared Burton

Pack two

#US-67 Scott Van Slyke

#US-257 Eduardo Escobar

#US-75 Nick Punto

#US-124 Nick Tepesch

#US-109 David Lough

#US-148 Kyle Parker - Gold parallel serial #'d 1550/2014

#FF-OV Omar Vizquel - Fond Farewell insert

#US-136 Dioner Navarro

#US-154 Yu Darvish

#US-18 Aramis Ramirez

Pack three

#US-36 Vance Worley

#US-40 Stephen Vogt

#US-42 J.D. Martinez

#US-327 Jonny Gomes

#US-261 Rene Rivera

#US-195 Gerald Laird - Sabermetric variation; this doesn't save the break or anything, but after already putting most of the cards away, I was bored and jotted down the possible variations / short prints from the cards I pulled.

I was 0-for-5 until I dug the Laird out of my loose stash of A-Z cards - looked at the back and saw all the fancy, non-traditional baseball stats.

I still have #135 Jake Odorizzi to check [for another Sabermetric variation] - but I think the Laird was my pull.

#US-72 Chris Young

#US-17 Yangervis Solarte

#US-330 Daniel Webb

#US-52 Chase Anderson

Pack four

#US-211 Jordan Schafer

#US-29 Tyler Skaggs

#US-60 David Ross

#US-89 Stephen Drew

#US-279 Kevin Frandsen - Gold parallel serial #'d 1835/2014

#US-TM-JE Jacoby Ellsbury - 1989 Topps Die-Cut minis insert

#US-12 Brian McCann

#US-174 Jace Peterson

#US-267 Jonathan Diaz

#US-237 Jorge Polanco

Corey Kluber and 2014 MLB award winners

This was probably supposed to be a post having a small stash of Kluber signed cards from a minor league game or spring training perhaps - as is, I can't immediately find anything autographed by Kluber and despite being confident I had his scribbles on a few cards, I guess an unsigned 2014 Topps will have to do for now.

I do like cobbling together loose cards of the major award winners [Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player] - come awards season, I feel like I'm going to be able to make use of a few star cards [for the most part] that I'd normally overlook because I have too many in general to care about.

I'm adding this 2014 Topps Stadium Club Future Stars die-cut insert to my American League Rookie of the Year collection - the card I'll be adding to my National League Rookie of the Year collection has already been featured.

I found two of these 2014 Bowman cards, so even though I want different cards to represent an award winner in most circumstances - I think I'll live with dropping one card into my National League Cy Young collection and dropping a dupe into my National League MVP collection.

I have enough loose Trouts to choose from and it's a wonder why I haven't been able to use a couple more of his cards for my American League MVP collection already - but he finally took the MVP award home and I can put his 2014 Topps Stadium Club Rainbow parallel into my AL MVP collection.

Vintage baseball card display #2

During a pit stop at the McDonald's by the Salt River Fields in Arizona, I was wandering around and found a couple of baseball card related displays - this was the second featuring assorted baseball cards.

It's easier to do quick research with the Internet, so I looked up the cards and except for the 1965 Topps Embossed inserts of Willie Mays and Ernie Banks - the other cards were from the 1961 Golden Press set, when can sort of be defined as a vintage 'retro set' of cards.

Vintage baseball card display #1

During a pit stop at the McDonald's by the Salt River Fields in Arizona, I was wandering around and found a couple of baseball card related displays - no apparent theme, just a bunch of cards someone decided to matte and frame.

I assume many of the cards are original - but I can't really say for all them and there might be a few reprints.

Featured autograph - Jacob DeGrom

I was able to get the 2014 National League Rookie of Year after a New York Mets / San Diego Padres game at Petco Park this past season - I actually didn't have any cards for DeGrom [I busted six blaster boxes of 2014 Bowman but didn't pull any DeGrom cards] but my buddy needed to whittle down the stash of cards he had and gave me four.

DeGrom only signed 2/4 cards, but I got some help with the two other unsigned cards - so all four cards were signed and I kept a couple for myself.

Hank Conger

Conger was an Angels fan favorite because he was a local guy who was always upbeat, smiling and approachable - I'm disappointed to see he was traded to Houston last week in exchange for pitcher Nick Tropeano and minor league catcher Carlos Perez.

As is, maybe Conger gets an opportunity to play more, even with Jason Castro as the starting catcher in Houston - it looks like Conger might be facing a similar 'time share' situation, but it seemed like his MLB career stagnated in Anaheim.

Even though Conger was one of the Angels' top prospects for years - Chris Iannetta was just decent enough to stick around the past three seasons and there was never a sense of urgency to give Conger 400-450 at-bats to prove himself.

Mark Sappington

I took a picture of Sappington signing and talking with fans last month in Arizona - I actually didn't have anything for him to be signed, but Sappington might have been the most accomodating and personable guy in the fall league.

As is, the one-time Angels minor leaguer was traded for lefty Cesar Ramos and is now Tampa Bay Rays property - it's kind of peculiar that he was traded during the fall league [not in the off-season or even during the regular MiLB season perhaps].

While a player like Sappington is a pro and it's probably not as awkward as it might seem to the casual fan - I'm curious how it goes down where someone has to pull you aside and say you are part of a new organization, particularly when you are a player who might be trying to catch up after a disappointing year.

Featured autographs - Delino DeShields

2001 Fleer Tradition was probably the first set where I tried to get as many of the cards signed in-person / TTM - at first, I thought the cards were kind of ugly [it's obviously a retro themed design, but maybe I thought the cards looked too primitive], but I ended up picking up a factory set back since it had Albert Pujols, Ichiro and Mark Teixeira rookies as part of a 50-card rookie update.

Not really knowing what to do with the rest of the cards past the 'key guys,' I started to get the cards signed in-person / TTM bit by bit - to this day I still hold out hope that I can get cards from the set signed, like the pair of cards I got inked up by the former MLB second baseman.

The Angels could use this guy - Billy Butler

The Angels need to take a chance on signing him to plug somewhere in the middle of the lineup to hit after Albert Pujols and/or Josh Hamilton - while Butler isn't quite a year in, year out home run threat and his slugging percentage has dipped in the past few years, he does hit little bit.

He maybe a clogger on the bases and also limited defensively - but he seems sort of a low key guy who just comes to the ballpark and play.

2014 Topps Stadium Club mini box recap #3

I paid about $80 for this box of cards and I'm still trying to make sense of my lackluster pulls - it looks like prices have dropped bit by bit and even as I felt like this break could have been much better, I'm wondering if it is worth trying another full box at $55-$60 [if prices fall that far].

Pack one
#17 Michael Cuddyer
#22 Matt Adams

#BT-6 Troy Tulowitzki - Beam Team insert
#107 Zack Greinke
#176 Jeff Samardzija

Pack two
#105 Troy Tulowitzki
#95 Mark McGwire
#LDC-2 Greg Maddux - Legends insert
#153 Bryce Harper
#158 Hyun-Jin Ryu

Pack three
#161 Tony Gwynn
#194 Tom Seaver
#30 Andrew McCutchen
#77 Al Kaline - Rainbow parallel
#166 Mat Latos

Pack four
#11 Max Scherzer
#SCA-JSA Jarrod Saltalamacchia - auto
#91 Miguel Cabrera
#13 Stan Musial
#89 Yordano Ventura

Pack five
#130 Starlin Castro
#129 Hanley Ramirez
#59 Jonathan Schoop
#FA-5 Willie Mays - Field Access insert
#192 Brett Lawrie

Pack six
#85 Kolten Wong

#41 Shin-Soo Choo - Gold parallel
#24 Anthony Rizzo
#57 Jayson Werth
#2 Matt Holliday

2014 Topps Stadium Club mini box recap #2

Pack one
#28 Giancarlo Stanton
#155 Michael Wacha
T10C George Springer - Luminous insert
#69 Freddie Freeman
#160 Joe Mauer

Pack two
#87 Joey Votto
#26 Taijuan Walker
#52 Manny Machado
#16 Nolan Arenado
#148 Salvador Perez

Pack three
#25 Juan Encarnacion
#147 Bo Jackson

#50 Mike Trout - Rainbow parallel
#31 Todd Helton
#131 Dustin Pedroia

Pack four
#23 John Smoltz
#179 Felix Hernandez
#SCA-TC Tony Cingrani - auto
#122 Craig Kimbrel
#103 Adam Eaton

Pack five
#150 Clayton Kershaw
#163 Masahiro Tanaka
#FA-23 Jose Fernandez - Field Access insert
#44 Hank Aaron
#120 Jose Bautista

Pack six
#78 Josh Hamilton

#166 Mat Latos - Foil Board parallel serial #'d 1 of 25
#66 Matt Cain
#38 Robinson Cano
#64 Tim Lincecum